Stefan Edberg couldn't finish off Ivan Lendl at the U.S. Open and neither could beat the rain.
The two former champions - Edberg is defending the title he won last year; Lendl has captured the crown three times, the last in 1987 - were to resume their quarterfinal battle at 11:30 a.m. (MDT) today, weather permitting, after their match was suspended by rain in the fifth set Thursday night.Actually, Edberg could have moved into a semifinal berth opposite Michael Chang by winning the fourth set. He had four match points in the 10th game.
But Lendl, supposedly near the end of his career at age 32, revved his game into high gear and battled back from love-40 to hold serve and begin a three-game streak that knotted the match and sent it into a fifth set.
Chang, in a day match that, because of a rain delay, almost lasted as long as the Edberg-Lendl marathon, overcame 12th-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1.
The women's semifinals also were on top for today, with fifth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario meeting No. 9 Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere and defending champion and top-seed Monica Seles taking on No. 7 Mary Joe Fernandez.
Sanchez Vicario's lone Grand Slam tournament title came in 1989 when she captured the French Open. And this was her second trip in three years in the semifinals on the hardcourts at Flushing Meadows.
While both are veterans of the tour, it is only the fourth meeting between Sanchez Vicario and Maleeva-Fragniere, making her first Grand Slam tournament semifinal appearance. Maleeva-Fragniere, a native of Bulgaria who now lives in Switzerland, leads the series 2-1, having won their last two meetings.
Seles has dominated her semifinal foe, leading 12-1 in their career matchups and 25-4 in sets.
Fernandez and Seles met in the Australian Open final in January, Seles winning. This is Seles' ninth career Grand Slam singles semifinal and her seventh consecutive, starting at the 1991 Australian Open.
Edberg was breezing along the semifinals of the year's final Grand Slam tournament when he reached triple match point against Lendl. Seven points later, Lendl was ready to serve for the fourth set.
Minutes after the Chang-Ferreira match ended, the rains came for a second time Thursday, forcing suspension of the Edberg-Lendl match with Edberg ahead two sets to one and down 5-6 in the fourth set.
Lendl had held serve in the 10th game, saving the four match points. He then broke Edberg to take the lead when rain halted play.
After a delay of one hour, 10 minutes, Lendl returned to the court and broke Edberg to capture the set and send the match into a fifth set.
It apparently was exactly what Lendl wanted.
He won a five-setter against Jaime Yzaga of Peru in the opening round, downed Jimmy Connos in four sets, needed four sets to eliminate Chuck Adams and went five sets to oust Boris Becker.
The match had just begun to develop its own drama when the rain came again, forcing the suspension until today.
Chang, who had never gotten past the fourth round here, beat a slightly hobbled Ferreira, who played from midway in the fourth set with his left thigh heavily taped. He had pulled a quadricep muscle.
Chang broke Ferreira in the second game at love, then again in the sixth game and served out the match as Ferreira's final mis-hit forehand soared high above the grandstand court.
"If he was going to win, he was going to do it playing better tennis," Chang said. "I think in the fourth set, he did do that."